EPS SUPPORTS IAN McCREA

We fully support the statement issued by DUP MLA Ian McCrea in opposition to any visit by the Pope to Northern Ireland. We commend Mr McCrea for his courageous and principled stand and urge all Protestant politicians to follow his lead. Whether the pope comes to Ulster next year, or the visit is deferred to 2012, now is the time to galvanise opposition to any such visit, and it is incumbent upon all Protestant leaders, in church and state, to nail their colours to the mast. As evangelical Protestants, we believe in civil and religious liberty for all, and we accept that a religious leader has the right to pay a pastoral visit to his flock. But the pope is no ordinary religious leader, and his visit cannot be merely pastoral. Indeed, the planned visit to Great Britain will be the first state visit by a pope since the Reformation. The Pope makes very significant spiritual and temporal claims about himself and his church. The Pope of Rome arrogates to himself power over princes and kings and claims to be Vicar (or substitute) of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Protestants from the days of the Reformation onwards have identified the pope as the antichrist, and this doctrinal position is enshrined in, for example, the Westminster Confession of Faith. This is the position held by Ian McCrea, and it is the position held by the Evangelical Protestant Society as an inter-denominational organisation. We therefore utterly reject the accusation by SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone that Ian McCrea's comments were sectarian. Of course the Church of Rome regards any opposition to her teachings or her claims as "sectarian", so we should not be surprised by Mr McGlone's remarks.

Meanwhile, we in EPS will be doing all we can to co-ordinate united Protestant opposition to any papal visit, and we will work closely with Protestants not only in Northern Ireland but across the United Kingdom.